1. After reading the article by Thomas et al., comment on where your research, or your research interests, fit into the generational framework for health disparities research. If your work is 1rst or 2nd generation, comment on how your work could lead in the future to 3rd or 4th generation work. If your work is 3rd or 4th generation, comment on what 1rst and 2nd generation work was necessary as a foundation for your current work (or current interests).
Despite being introduced ten years ago, little is known about the impact of electronic cigarettes on oral health. Electronic cigarettes are becoming extremely popular as an alternative to conventional nicotine cigarettes, both in smokers and in people who have never smoked. Electronic cigarettes have a spray chamber and an electronic liquid containing nicotine, glycerin, propylene glycol, water and various flavors, with traditional nicotine effect statements and release of harmless water vapor that quickly fades to lessen harmful effects, not being that fully demonstrated.
Consequently, there is an urgent need for research that will improve our understanding of how E-cig affects oral health and determine if there is a disparity in its effect, therefore, research would be in a primary and secondary phase mostly. A key step to move to a third phase would be to investigate the associations within the person between the electronic cigarette and access to tobacco, the motivations, the exposure, the context, the intentions, the will and the behaviors and explore the differences between users who only use electronic cigarettes and dual users with respect to beliefs, access, motivations, exposure, context, intentions, will and behaviors of electronic cigarettes and tobacco, as well as differences between the two groups on personal risk factors. The results of this types of studies will provide preliminary data to generate interventions and new public policies for the control of these emerging tobacco products.
2. The barbershop hypertension intervention, while essentially a clinical services intervention operating at either the fence or safety-net level as described by Jones, has some engagement with the social determinants of health. Interventions like that described in the Gottleib article are designed to mitigate the impact of social determinants. How could you apply one of these two types of interventions to your area of research? Propose one or two interventions that engage with social determinants on some level.
Peer-Leeds interventions can be an effective way to address e-cig consumption that is especially relevant in adolescents. In fact, studies have shown that mentors of youth in smoking cessation interventions seem to contribute to positive outcomes (R. Campbell, F. Starkey, J. Holliday, et al Lancet, 2008). A possible intervention would be to train some young people in a particular community to provide education on healthy lifestyle and the impact of vaping.